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Indiana Jones Beyond Thunderdome
Indiana Jones Beyond Thunderdome is a 2001 American post-apocalyptic action-adventure film. Directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas and starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Tina Turner as Auntie Entity. It was released by Paramount Pictures on May 25, 2001 and is the sixth in the seven picture film series produced by Lucasfilm. After the success of the previous Indiana Jones film which pitted the titular hero against the Predator, Lucas decided to license the characters from the Mad Max series for story purposes. Warner Bros. was reluctant to allow permission to their property but changed their minds after their own attempts to revive the Mad Max series continued to languish in development hell. George Miller laughed his ass off when Lucas approached him to assist in development for the movie and Lucas vowed to never work with him ever. Then he decided to write the screenplay himself which was another big mistake. Carrie Fisher acted as script doctor and helped keep the production on track. Plot In a post-apocalyptic 1995, the ageless Indiana Jones is travelling to New Zealand looking for the Fountain of Youth due to the fact his agelessness (revealed to be from sipping the Holy Grail) is starting to wear off. He has been flying for weeks and has intercepted a radio distress call from New Zealand. As he flies over Australia, a surface-to-air missile shoots him down and he crashes into the desert. He is too injured to prevent a group of hoarders from stealing all his supplies and vanishing into the desert. Waking up and realizing that everything he owns has been stolen, Jones continues on foot, following a trail of his personal items left behind as well as foot steps marked in the sand. The trail leads Jones to the recovering Bartertown, still reeling from the attack by Max a few months earlier. Jones is at first refused entry by The Collector, the gatekeeper of Bartertown, as he has nothing to trade, but after witnessing Jones's quick reflexes, and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, he reconsiders. The Collector, a mutant shape shifter and the new head of the guards Marky Mark, bring Jones before the ruthless Aunty Entity (Tina Turner). She offers to help him get to New Zealand on the condition he translate an ancient tablet recently found in the sand. Jones agrees and soon realizes the tablet was written in Sanskrit and reveals the actual location of the Fountain of Youth. Realizing that he got his information wrong, Jones leads Auntie Entity on a wild goose chase while taking his new plane to the actual location in the message. Not realizing that Auntie Entity slipped a GPS tracker on the plane, her army of dilapidated vehicles is quickly in hot pursuit. Jones lands his plane near an oasis and discovers that the water surrounded by a group of children is the Fountain of Youth. Jones is captured by the leader of the Lost Tribe, a man named Slake. Soon enough Jones is trusted and a welcome member of the tribe. The arrival of Auntie Entity’s army sees the Lost Tribe captured and the water drained into a huge tanker to be sold back at Bartertown. Jones and Slake escape their cage in the caravan and make good their escape in a reindeer driven sleigh into the desert. Jones and Slake argue over the best approach to dealing with Bartertown, but come to a decision after a brief brawl in the sand. Meanwhile in Bartertown, Aunty imprisons all the children in the Underground while preparing to sell the water from the Fountain of Youth in bottles. Jones and Slake manage to locate an underground pipe that leads into the Underground facility. An attempt to rescue the children fails and they are captured. Aunty decides the best thing to do is send Jones to the Thunderdome, a gladiatorial arena where conflicts are resolved by a duel to the death. The rules of Thunderdome, as chanted by onlookers crowding the arena, are simple: "Two men enter, one man leaves." After a difficult match with various weapons, Jones defeats his first opponent. His second opponent is a woman, but Jones manages to defeat her as well, still he’s reluctant to kill her. Aunty sees that as his weakness and decides to have Jones fight a trio of Amazon warriors from the Wasteland. Meanwhile in the Underground, Slake and the other Children manage to escape and hijack the tanker with the water. Jones uses the distraction to escape from Thunderdome, steals a motorcycle and pursues the tanker as Aunty and her brood gather their own vehicles in pursuit. Jones catches up to the tanker and is welcomed by the children and Slake. Aunty's men catch up to the tanker, Jones manages to keep Marky Mark from seizing the wheel. Then he engages the shape shifter who uses Jones’ own memories to alter his form as past BHG opponents. They fight amongst the various vehicles until the shape shifter is finally run over by accident by Aunty. As the tanker heads towards a narrow canyon, Jones decides to take his newly commandeered vehicle a Ford F-150 and uses it as a battering ram to delay Aunty’s forces. Jones plays chicken with Marky Mark, and neither man swerves to avoid the collision, with Jones's vehicle ripping right through Marky Mark's, and Jones leaping to safety at the last moment. The plan works, and the tanker escapes through the canyon as a massive pile-up destroys every vehicle in Aunty’s army. Aunty is the last one left alive, and she’s forced to walk the desert. Slake and the tanker reach the safety of the oasis and empty the water back into the pool. Jones returns but doesn’t remain. Using the plane that Aunty had given him, he gathers some supplies, says his goodbyes and flies off towards the sunset. Years later, the children have continued their small society at the oasis and Slake recites a nightly "tell" of their journey, and the man, Indiana Jones, who saved them and their Fountain of Youth. Cast *Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones :The world famous archaeologist who has escaped the Nuclear War and is now seeking the Fountain of Youth in New Zealand. He crash lands in Austraila where he runs afoul of Aunty Entity. *Tina Turner as Aunty Entity :Tthe ruthless, determined ruler of Bartertown. Entity is a glamorous, Amazon-like figure who recognizes a strength of character in Indy, and hopes to exploit him. Despite her brutality and Bartertown's chaos, Entity is an intelligent, cultured woman, who holds a hope of one day rebuilding society to its former glory. *Frank Thring as The Collector :Head of Bartertown's trade and exchange network. *Tom Jennings as Slake M'Thirst :The male leader of the child tribe. *Edwin Hodgeman as Dr. Dealgood: :The flamboyant Master of Ceremonies and chief auctioneer of Bartertown. *Ben Mendelsohn as Marky Mark :The new Head of the Guards, replacing the dead Ironbar. *Pat Roach as Shape Shifter :A mutant with the power to read minds and change his shape accordingly to intimidate his opponents. Production Development Again George Lucas was seemingly high when he developed the concept for the sixth film of the series, inspired by the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Once securing the rights this time from Warner Bros., he set out to mesh the two franchises together in a barely conceivable narrative. Filming Using blackmail techniques known only to Lucas, Spielberg was compelled yet again to direct the sixth Indiana Jones film. Reluctant due to the ridiculously stupid concept, nonetheless he threw himself into the production. Once again the main location was at the mining town of Coober Pedy with the same set for Bartertown still up and running at the old brickworks in Sydney's western suburbs, and the children's camp shot at the Blue Mountains. Distribution Home media The film was first introduced to the home video market by Paramount Home Video as a Special Edition which consisted of 2 DVDs, one with the film picture (DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 & original mono audio track) and another DVD with special features. Along with the film, DVD 1 also had 2 commentaries featurning two mimes, a deaf woman and Stevie Wonder. Disc 2 contained numerous special features, that also included additional, extended or alternate scenes of the film, such as one scene where Mel Gibson makes a cameo as Mad Max. These unused clips/scenes were not included/added in the film but could be viewed separately from the DVD's Menus. Reaction Box office Indiana Jones Beyond Thunderdome premiered in the United States with a major theatrical release on May 25, 2001, opening in 2165 cinemas across the country. Grossing $79,271,000 during its opening weekend, the film was considered an instant commercial success. The film eventually earned a total of $525,504,513 at the American box office. Critical reception Despite its idiotic premise, the film has received universal critical acclaim, again. The film has a 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is considered by many as one of the best films of 2001. Category:American films Category:Sequel films Category:Films shot in Australia Category:English-language films Category:Films set in Australia Category:Post-apocalyptic films Category:Peak oil films Category:Road movies